Dan Kutler (; born May 2, 1970, in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...

) is an American-born former swimmer and butterfly specialist, who swam for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and participated for

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. Kutler was born in Mountain View, California on May 2, 1970. He is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and grew up in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Clare of Assisi, Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns i ...

. Kutler swam for

Cupertino High School Cupertino High School, colloquially referred to as "Tino", "CHS", is a four-year comprehensive public high school located near the Rancho Rinconada and Fairgrove neighborhoods of Cupertino, California, USA. The school serves mostly suburban res ...

, where he was a three time All-American swimmer, and captured All America honors in

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

. Completing his Senior year in High School at 18, he attended the August, 1988 Olympic trials at the Texas Swim Center in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

, and placed 57th in the 50-meter free with a time of 23.90, far from the third place finish needed to qualify in the event.

University of California Los Angeles

He competed for

from 1988 to 1992 under Hall of Fame Coach

Ron Ballatore Ron "Stix" Ballatore (1941 – April 27, 2012) was an American college and international swimming coach. From 1978 to 1994, Ballatore was the head coach of the men's swimming and diving team at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCL ...

, where he was a 7-time All American. Kutler's teams at UCLA were perennial top-ten contenders in NCAA national competition.
Pac-12 Men's Swimming Media Guide
', Pac-12 Conference, Walnut Creek, California, pp. 1–2, 10 (2014). Retrieved July 7, 2014. Considered one of the Pac-10 Conference’s top sprinters and relay members while at UCLA, at the 1991

FISU World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

in England, he was a member of the UCLA’s gold medal 400-Meter Medley Relay Team. In 1990, he helped UCLA capture a championship in the Pac-10 400-Meter Medley Relay, and a second-place finish in the 200-Meter Freestyle Relay. Kutler placed first in both the 100-Meter Freestyle (51.50) and the 100-Meter Butterfly (55.20) at the 1990 Olympic Festival. At the 1989 Olympic Festival in Oklahoma City, he won a gold in the 100-meter butterfly.

1996 Atlanta Olympics

After completing UCLA, Kutler moved to

in 1994 to begin swimming for their national team in preparation for the

. In

, he swam the butterfly leg for the four-man 4x100 meter medley with

Yoav Bruck Yoav Bruck (; born March 6, 1972, in moshav Lakhish) in the northern Negev in south-central Israel, is a former Israeli swimmer, who competed in three Summer Olympics for his native country, in the years 1992, 1996, and 2000. In Olympic competi ...

, Eitan Urbach, and

Vadim Alexeev Vadim Alekseyev (, ; born April 11, 1970) is a retired Olympic breaststroke swimmer who competed for first the Soviet Union, then Israel. Alexeev was born in Almaty, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union. He is Jewish and immigrated to Israel in 1992. He sp ...

. The team reached the final, taking eighth place. He retired after the Olympics. He captured a silver medal at the Men's 50-meter Butterfly with a time of 24.71 in France on March 2, 1996 at the FINA Swimming World Cup, and took the a bronze in the Men's 50-meter Butterfly, with a time of 24.40 on October 2, 1996 at the FINA World Cup in Germany. In 1997 he was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jews, American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distingui ...

References

External links

* 1970 births Living people Olympic swimmers for Israel Israeli male butterfly swimmers Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Jewish American swimmers Sportspeople from Mountain View, California American male swimmers Summer World University Games medalists in swimming FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade 21st-century American Jews Jews from California 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-swimming-bio-stub

University of California Los Angeles

1996 Atlanta Olympics

See also

References

External links